Ryder came back into the living room, wiping fluffy white snowflakes out of his hair. “Hey, who was that guy that John was dragging out of here just now?” he asked. As soon as his face landed on me and Jude, his eyes widened slightly. “What the hell’s going on?”
I pulled away from Jude and walked to him. “Nothing.”
“This doesn’t look like nothing. What the hell did I miss?” he asked.
“It was nothing, Ryder. Just forget it.”
“I leave for five minutes and I see John dragging someone out of the house into the snow and when I come back inside Jude has you in his arms rubbing your back,” he said, staring at Jude.
“Ryder, it’s nothing, I swear,” I said.
Jude shook his head and sighed. “It was her ex boyfriend. Some dude named Scott.”
I turned to him and nudged his shoulder. “Jude!”
“Hey, sorry, but Ryder needed to know. I came in the living room and heard him saying some shit to Everleigh, so I roughed him up a little bit and John made him leave,” Jude said.
I groaned and flopped down on the couch. “What the hell did he say?” Ryder asked Jude, but he was looking at me.
“Look, it’s not important. The point is that I threatened to kick his ass and he’s been told to stay the fuck away from her. Just let it go for now, man, and be here for your girl,” Jude said, clapping him on the shoulder and giving him a shake. “I’m going to head out too. We’re here for you, Everleigh, okay?” he said, looking at me. My heart swelled with love for Jude in that moment…I had always secretly wished for a big brother and now I had three. Even though I didn’t feel like it then, I was really a lucky girl to have these guys.
I nodded and sniffed. “Thanks, Jude.” He nodded at me and Ryder, and then walked away.
Ryder came over to me and sat down by my side. “Everleigh, are you all right?” he asked me, placing his hand on my lower back and massaging it.
I shook my head. “No, I’m not. This has been the worst day of my life. I just buried my dad, there are about a zillion people packed into my house right now, most of who I have never seen before today, I’m on the verge of a migraine, and my ex shows up here and says the most horrible things to me. What did I do to deserve this?” I asked, and I started sobbing.
“You didn’t do anything, gorgeous,” he said, pulling me into his arms. “None of this is your fault.”
“I just want to sleep and forget about everything,” I cried.
“Do you want me to have everyone leave?” he asked softly.
I shrugged. “I can’t ask that. People came here to pay their respects and I would feel like a bitch for making them all leave.”
“Well, why don’t you go and get some rest? You are exhausted, Everleigh. Just get into some comfortable clothes and take a nap and everyone will be gone by the time you wake up, okay?”
“Are you sure? This isn’t your job, you know,” I said.
“No, it’s my job to take care of you and right now you need to rest. I’ll deal with all of it.”
I felt a mixture of guilt and fear. No matter what he said this wasn’t his job. I was terrified that he was just fulfilling a promise he made to a dying man. I hoped I was wrong, but I couldn’t think about that now…I just wanted to shut the world out for a while. I turned and hugged him tightly. “Thank you, Ryder. I won’t lie down long, I promise.”
He shook his head and traced his fingers along my neck. “You take all the time you need, okay? I’ll check in on you and let you know when everyone is gone.”
I nodded. “Okay. Please give everyone my apologies,” I said, standing.
He stood to meet me and kissed my forehead. “I will. Get some rest,” he said, and I drudged off toward my bedroom. I nodded at several people as they gave their condolences to me, and as soon as I reached my bedroom, I closed the door behind me. I didn’t even change out of my dress before I collapsed on my bed and fell into a restless sleep.
Chapter 3
Ryder
“Thanks again for everything, man,” I said to Beau. “Are you heading back to your hotel room?”
Putting on his coat, he said, “No. I was going to take Danni out for New Years tonight and then we’re going back to the hotel,” he said, slightly smiling. “You know, ring in the New Year right.”
I shook my head and looked pointedly at him. “Don’t fuck with her, man. Danni’s a good girl.”
Beau opened his mouth and was about to reply but Danni came up to us at that moment and hugged me. “That was an amazing service, Ryder. Thanks for doing this for her. I don’t know how she could have gotten through this week without you,” she said.
“I just did what anyone else would have done for someone they lo-, um, care about,” I said, catching myself for the second time in a week almost about to drop the L word.
She smiled at me. “I know you did. Give her a hug for me and tell her to call me tomorrow, okay?”
“I will. Good night you two,” I said, and I watched them walk out into the snow. I heard footsteps behind me and I turned to see Trish reaching for her coat. “Hey Trish, are you heading out too? I thought you lived here.”
“I do for now but I am going to stay with my sister for a week while Everleigh figures things out. I’ll move on to another patient soon but for now I want to give her some space to deal with everything.”
“Okay, well, that makes sense I guess.”
“Listen,” she said, “I am so glad Everleigh found you when she did, Ryder. She’s such a sweet girl and after the way Scott treated her, her confidence was totally destroyed. She has no idea just how beautiful she really is and the worst part of it all is she believes she doesn’t deserve to be loved. In the short time I have known you, I have seen some wonderful changes in her and I hope I continue to see that.”
“So, is this your motherly way of saying that she is into me and you want me to stick around?” I asked, smiling at her.
“I absolutely hope you stick around, Ryder. She may not admit it but she needs you and you are good for her.” She leaned in and hugged me. “I’ll be in touch. Give her my love and tell her I said Happy New Year,” she said.
“I will. Good night. Drive safe,” I said, and as soon as she walked out and was in her car, I closed the door. I blew out a breath and turned and looked around Everleigh’s house. It was a mess from all the food that everyone brought. I didn’t want her to have to clean it up later so I got to work putting food away, throwing out trash, and cleaning dishes.
After about an hour of speed cleaning, I had just washed my last dish when I felt someone behind me. “Hey,” I heard Everleigh say.
“Hey, gorgeous. How was your nap? Are you feeling any better?” I asked, placing a dish towel on the sink.
“I’m feeling a little better,” she said. She looked around the kitchen and her mouth fell open. “Did you…clean my house?”
I grinned. “Well, it was a small disaster. I wasn’t going to leave it all night,” I said. “Sorry, I’m a bit of a clean freak.”
“It’s okay. I appreciate it but you didn’t have to. This isn’t what you signed up for, I’m sure.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, my brows furrowed.
“You’ve only been in town for one week and you’ve already watched someone die, planned a funeral, hosted a wake, and cleaned an entire house. All for a girl that isn’t technically your girlfriend,” she said, shaking her head.
“I made a promise to your dad that I’d take care of you, Everleigh, and that’s what I intend to do. I’m not taking that shit lightly. Besides, why do you think you don’t deserve a break? I know this is a lot for a first week in any kind of relationship but for the first time in a long time I feel like I am in the right place at the right time.
“I was a mess when my dad died and I still wasn’t over it when my mom passed away, so when she was gone I completely checked out. Sure, the guys were there for me, but I wouldn’t let them help like they wanted to and I j
ust fell into endless bottles of booze and fucked a lot of women. I know this is going to sound corny or unbelievable, but I really feel like I was meant to find you, Evie, and that I am supposed to be here to help you through this,” I said.
Suddenly, she gasped. “W-what did you call me?”
“What?” I asked, confused.
“You…you just called me Evie. My dad was the only one that called me that,” she said, tears clouding her eyes.
“Oh shit, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize I did,” I said, feeling like an asshole.
She shook her head. “No, it’s…okay. That actually made me feel a little bit better. I can’t explain it,” she said, taking a step toward me.
I immediately pulled her into my arms. “I’ll do whatever you need me to do to make you feel better,” I said, lowering my lips to her forehead. I kissed her softly a few times before moving to brush soft kisses across her eyelids, her cheek, the tip of the her nose, and then finally her lips.
I had backed off, letting her have some space and even though I still had every intention of doing that I missed kissing her lips. I just had to do it once, even if she pushed me away.
She started to kiss me back but just as suddenly as she’d opened her mouth to me, she froze and pulled away. “Ryder, I’m sorry. I can’t do this.”
“I know. I’m sorry. It’s too soon,” I said, pulling back.
“It’s not that,” she said quietly, looking down at the floor.
I knew what this was about. That Scott asshole had gotten to her again. “Everleigh, what did he say to you?” I asked, my jaw tightening.
“Nothing, Ryder. He was just a jerk, like always. Let it go,” she said, her face flushed.
“Everleigh, I am not trying to push you, but you need to tell me what he said to you.”
“Why?” she snapped. “What difference does it make? He’s already ruined this whole fucking day. God, is it too much to ask for me to grieve in peace without everyone bothering me? Strangers packed in the house all day, everyone asking me every two seconds if I’m fine like I’m going to collapse, and then Scott showing his face here just to plunge the knife deeper!” she shouted. “Why can’t the world give me a break?”
I tried to wrap my arms around her, but she started to shove me away. “I’m trying to give you a break so that’s why you need to tell me what that fuckwad said so I can convince you how wrong he is!” After a few moments, she stopped fighting and collapsed into my arms, sobbing. Stroking my fingers through her hair, I asked her softly, “What did he say?”
“He…he insulted you…he called you scum. He called me his sloppy seconds and then lied to Jude and Beau. He said that I strung him along for a long time before we had sex and that I was terrible in bed. He’s told me all those things before but today of all days I didn’t need him to remind me of it,” she said, speaking barely above a whisper.
Rage like I had never felt before shot through me and my blood was boiling. If I wasn’t holding onto Everleigh I was certain I would have gotten into my car and drove around until I found his house and I would have killed him. “Are you fucking kidding me?” I growled. “Please don’t tell me you believe that cock sucker, Everleigh.”
“How could I not? I was a virgin when I slept with him and even then I didn’t feel ready. Of course I’m going to be terrible at sex the first time.”
“I don’t think that it’s possible for you to be bad at it, gorgeous. When you touched me last week…God, I’ve never came so hard in my entire life and that’s the truth.”
She shook her head. “I just wish he’d leave me alone, Ryder. He’s not around a lot but when he is it’s awful. It’s like when someone shows me the slightest bit of attention he flips out and starts insulting me.”
“He’s probably doing it because he still wants in your panties, Everleigh, and he doesn’t want anyone else to have what he felt like he was denied. I’m a guy so if I had to guess I’d say he thinks you cockblocked him and he got pissed,” I said.
“Well, I don’t want him. I didn’t really want him then but I felt like I was getting too old to still be a virgin so I did it and completely ignored that little voice that tried to warn me that I wasn’t ready. He took something from me I’ll never get back,” she cried.
“Well, you have something he will never get,” I said, taking her face into my hands and staring into her whiskey colored eyes.
“What’s that?” she asked nervously.
“A man that sees what a breathtaking woman you are who is not about to let you go,” I said, and I leaned in and kissed her lips lightly. Everleigh moaned and surprised me by wrapping her arms around my neck, trying to glide her tongue into my mouth. As badly as I wanted to taste her, I was the one backed away this time.
Everleigh swayed slightly against me and when she steadied herself, her brows furrowed. “Why did you pull away from me, Ryder?”
I raised both eyebrows at her. “Everleigh, I am backing off because you just lost your dad. If I am being honest, I want you so fucking bad right now but I am trying to be the kind of guy you need. I’m not Scott, sweetheart. I’m not going to push you for sex, especially at a time like this.” She opened her mouth to speak but before she could, I stopped her by placing a fingertip on her plush lips. “It’s not happening tonight, gorgeous.”
She looked down at the floor for a moment and then looked up at me with those damned eyes. Fuck, she was beautiful. “Okay, I understand. You’re probably right. It’s a bad time,” she said softly. “I just can’t help how I feel right now. This has been the hardest week of my life and you were there for me like no one ever has been. Every time you kiss me my body just responds to you. I’m sorry.”
I smiled at her and pulled her into my arms. “You don’t need to be sorry for feeling that way, gorgeous. Believe me…it’s going to happen. I just don’t want to look back on it and remember that our first time together was because you were looking for some comfort sex,” I said, grinning and trying to lighten the mood.
Luckily, she smiled at me. “Thanks, Ryder,” she said, snuggling into my arms. She took a deep breath and sighed. “So, what do we do now?”
I kissed the top of her head and smiled. “What do you want to do? We can do whatever you want.”
“I kind of liked the idea of watching the countdown with you,” she said, looking up at me.
“Then that’s what we’ll do. We have a ton of leftovers in the refrigerator, or we could order something. Do you think that pizza place we had last week will be busy tonight?” I asked. That pizza was un-fucking-believable and I’d been craving it since that first night I was in Muncie.
“Pizza King? Um, they might be busy since it’s a holiday but I can call them.”
“No, I can call, it’s okay. You go get in your pajamas and get comfortable while I order us some food,” I said.
“Are you sure?”
“Of course I am,” I said, giving her a playful nudge. I already had my phone out and was Google searching for Pizza King’s phone number. “What toppings do you want?”
“I’m not picky. Whatever you want is just fine by me,” she said. “I’m going to take a quick shower, I’ll be right back.”
“Take your time,” I said, and I dialed the number. I watched her walk away down the hall to her room, my dick getting harder at the sight of her hips swaying as she walked. I shifted in my pants and tried to think of anything I could to make my growing erection go away. I wanted to end this day with a happy memory for her and I was determined to make that happen. I was just going to have to keep my wits about me and try my hardest to behave.
Two hours later I had changed into a tee shirt and pajama bottoms, I had a belly full of the most amazing pizza known to mankind, I had a bowl of popcorn in my lap, and I had the most beautiful girl in the world snuggled in my arms on her couch. Everleigh and I were lying together under a fleece blanket as we watched the pre-countdown festivities on television.
All the guys had calle
d at one point or another to wish us a happy new year. Jude tried to convince me to bring Everleigh to the party everyone was attending at some bar on the local college campus but I turned him down. The last thing Everleigh needed was to be at a rowdy New Year’s Eve party with a bunch of drunken coeds that would love nothing more than to pull me into a bathroom and beg me to fuck them. At one point I would have been up for that (and had done it before several times) but since I’d met Everleigh, no one interested me in the slightest.
This was the longest I had ever gone without sex ever since I started having it when I was fourteen. I was sporting a serious case of blue balls but I’d suffer for as long as I had to for this girl.
I felt her fingers tracing the designs of the tattoos on my arms and she let out a little sigh. “Thank you for doing this for me tonight. This is nice, just sitting here with you,” she said. “For a moment I forgot about everything.”
“I’m glad I could take your mind off things, Evie,” I said, and then I cursed. “Shit, sorry. I did it again.”
“It’s okay if you call me that, Ryder. Dad really liked you a lot in the short time he knew you and when you call me that it really does make me feel better.”
“I’m glad. I don’t know why I keep slipping. That’s something between you and your dad and I don’t want to intrude or taint those memories.”
She shook her head. “You won’t. If anything you’ve made them better. You are keeping him alive in a sense so if you want to call me Evie it’s fine by me.”
I smiled and kissed her forehead. “Okay, I’ll remember that.” She continued to trace my tattoos with her fingers and I couldn’t hide it when the hair on my arms stood straight up under her touch.
She turned her face toward mine and looked up into my eyes for a split second before her gaze landed on my mouth. Her tongue darted across her bottom lip and I felt myself start to get hard again. I reached my hand up and caressed her cheek and traced my thumb across her lips.
Rogue (Bad Blooded Rebel Series) Page 3
